How the Director of ‘Honey Boy’ Brought Shia Labeouf’s Story to Life

BY EMMA JEAN HILLESHIEM

 The film Honey Boy is the story of Shia Labeouf’s life as a child actor named Otis living under his abusive father. Shia actually plays the role of his father in the film. In 2017 Labeouf was arrested for public drunkenness and went to a court-appointed rehab. While he was there he was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and began to work through his childhood trauma by writing down memories and taping therapy sessions. He showed his friend and filmmaker, Alma Har’el, and together they turned the painful events in Shia’s life into a story that audiences could handle.

“It was really important for me to capture, actually, the cinematic world that Otis grew up in. How these stages and these sets have become, really, the playground for his psyche.”

– Alma Har’el

Honey Boy will be released in select Australian theaters in January of 2020 and will be available soon on Amazon. In the meantime, watch this beautiful featurette on how Alma went about bringing Shia Labeouf’s experiences to life in this incredible story about ending the cycle of generational pain between father and son through forgiveness.

This insider look into director Alma Har’el’s reasons behind her creative decisions and the symbolism within them will make you want to go watch Honey Boy as soon as possible. 

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  • Murray

    Ahaa, its good discussion on the topic of this article, I have read all that. Thank you for the good writeup.

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